Boutique
IW RATING
SYSTEM LEGEND
30-39:
A great timepiece that may suffer from one or
more weak points weighing down the overall score.
40-49:
A superlative example
of fine timekeeping.
ARNOLD & SON
HM Perpetual Moon
For many classical watches, a lunar display
seems to be an afterthought. A small window
at the bottom of the dial exposing a cartoonish
moon or a yellow circle that we too often
have to squint to see on the dials of so-called
‘moonphase’ watches hardly does justice to our
favorite satellite.
More than five years a go, Arnold & Son
changed all that with its first HM Perpetual
Moon, a 42mm model with one of the largest
moonphase displays ever seen on a wristwatch.
At 29mm across the top of the watch’s dial,
the lunar display is clearly the point here,
particularly with its massive 11.2mm moon disc.
In the years since Arnold & Son launched the
watch, the Swiss watchmaker (with a distinctly
British accent) has introduced HM Perpetual
Moon watches in several different case metals,
always with interesting dial treatments.
For 2019, Arnold & Son unveils a new version
of the HM Perpetual Moon with a blue
Aventurine stone dial that vividly recalls a clear
night sky. Housed in red gold, the new watch
again features Arnold & Son’s mechanical
hand-wound movement, Caliber A&S1512, an
integrated (non-modular) moonphase caliber
propels the orbit of its large moon with superior
precision.
The caliber is easily one of the most accurate
moon phase indicators on the market, with only
one day’s deviation every 122 years. Even better,
the movement’s double barrel yields an extra-
long ninety hours of power reserve.
Let’s take a look at the moon itself. The orb,
a particularly realistic recreation of the moon,
is sculpted in three dimensions, first hand-
engraved and then duplicated in an 18-karat red
gold plate. The sculptured moon is then inserted
into the guilloché disc.
The watch also has a unique, easy-to-set
feature thanks to the ingenious addition of a
second moon indication installed at the back
of the movement. This second moon display,
visible via a transparent case back, features a
graduated dial and a pointer hand that allows a
more exact setting.
Priced at $33,650, this new Arnold & Son HM
Perpetual Moon is a limited edition of 28 pieces.
30 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SPRING 2019